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AEGON CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 14, 2009

Jamie Murray

LONDON, ENGLAND

A. MURRAY/J. Blake
7-5, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. The week doesn't get much better than that, does it?
ANDY MURRAY: No, it was a very good week. In terms of the tennis today, maybe it wasn't the best match of the week, but, you know, it's very difficult against James because he doesn't let you into too much of a rhythm.
Yeah, it's a week -- as a whole, it was very good. I served well all week and moved well. It was a good transition from the clay to the grass.

Q. When you get that close is it a bit nervy? We sensed there was probably a slight apprehension there early on in the match.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. Well, it's just -- I mean, a lot of that comes from not really knowing -- I know how he plays. I've watched him play a lot. But until you play against him, you don't know like how hard to hit the ball, how the shots come through.
You know, the more you play against him, the more games that go by, you start to see, you know, where they're serving, you know, read the ball toss a little bit. It was kind of similar to when I played against Mardy. I hadn't played him for a few years.
Yeah, it just takes some time, and it was very, very difficult from the side where we both got broken right at the start. So I wasn't able to go for huge serves in the game I got broken. The sun was right there, and ball felt like it was coming onto you really quick. It was quite tough to see.
Yeah, there were some nerves throughout the match, but I thought I dealt with it well at the end. When I needed to serve well, I did.

Q. Does it feel different because it's a British tournament, Wimbledon is around the corner, you're the top seed playing at home? Did that take you by surprise that maybe you felt different going into it today?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I played enough times here or in the UK to know how the feeling is. It's just -- the only thing that's different is not when you get on the courts. It's more just the off-court stuff where you can kind of just get away from, you know, the other -- I like most of the players, but you can get away from the other players.
You know, you can go back to your own flat, your own bed, eat the food that you want to eat. Sometimes that's not possible at the tournaments. So no, it's nice to be sort of away from the tournament. You can live normally.

Q. What does the historical significance of a win mean to you?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, it's pretty special. There have been some great grass court players from Britain the last 70-odd years. You know, Tim and Greg were both very good grass court players. You know, the names that are on the trophy, you know, there's a lot of great, great players. So to be on that trophy is great.
You know, and obviously because it's not happened, you know, that a British player has won for so long, that makes it nicer.

Q. Have you had a look at the names on the trophy and which ones caught your eye?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I knew they have it on the board on the way up to the locker room. I mean, McEnroe, Connors, you know, Roddick, Hewitt, Nadal. You know, a lot of great players. Laver won here, as well.

Q. A lot of Wimbledon winners among them.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, which, you know, is great. I'm not one of them, unfortunately. But I'm going to try my best to try and change that.
But yeah, I just think, you know, the more matches you play on grass, you know, the better. The more time you spend on the court, on the match court, bodes well going into Wimbledon.

Q. Is there any sense of anxiety that a by-product of having such a good result here is that the hype will be sort of a level you possibly haven't experienced before?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I don't know how many times I'm going to have to say this the next week, but for the people that sit and read the papers and that write the papers and do the bits on TV and on radio, you can get caught up in it if you want to.
For me, if I go into a Grand Slam, you know, feeling confident and having won a tournament, regardless of whether it's here or in Paris or the US Open, it's good for my game.
I'm not planning on getting caught up in the whole hype and, you know, the pressure and whatnot, because I don't think that that helps if you do. I'm going to try and just concentrate on playing and winning matches.
You can let the pressure affect you if you want to. You can let the expectation get to you if you really want to, but I'm just going to play tennis and not worry about the rest of the stuff, because I don't think it's good for your game.

Q. Will you actually deliberately avoid reading papers, looking at radio and television over the next week or so?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I'm going to live my normal life. I'm not going to start switching the TV off and not listening to, you know, radio when I'm in the car. Or if there is a paper on the table, and I'm sitting around doing nothing, I'm not going to not look at them, because stuff doesn't matter what people write and say. No, it doesn't win my matches, doesn't lose me matches.
Not everyone that writes the stories knows exactly what they're saying. (laughter.)
I mean, they don't know sort of what you're going through and what everyone feels, because everyone deals with the situation differently, and I'm going to live normally; not, you know, do anything that I wouldn't normally do.

Q. The downside of being at home is also as you move around, try and have a normal life, walking a dog or go and train, people recognize you a lot more here. They'll be reminding you all the time, you know, Good luck, or Can you win it, or whatever?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I don't understand what I'm meant to say. Literally -- I mean, regardless of whether it's like this next week or like four months ago, the majority of people that I speak to, they say, Good luck at Wimbledon, whether it's, you know, now or in December, you know, because it's kind of what, you know, people sort of view tennis as in this country.
So no. I mean, when I go for, you know, a walk with the dog, keep myself to myself, you know, if I happen to bump into someone who my dog, you know, is playing with their dog, then I'll have a chat with them. (laughter.)
It's not like -- you know, I don't know. For me -- I mean, you probably asked Tim a lot of times, but it doesn't, that whole stuff, it doesn't really bother me. You know, I hope it doesn't make a difference going into the tournament.

Q. When you first played here, you cramped quite badly and they showed it the other day. When you look back at that, can you almost not recognize that play? You've made such great strides in pretty much everything, haven't you?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. Well, I mean, before that, I was used to playing in junior competitions. When I played here the first time, it was when I was playing against grown men.
You know, the intensity is completely different. The pressure, the nerves that you have when you go on the court is very different to what I was used to. It took me some time to get used to that.
And also, you know, I had to start working harder and I learned a lot from the grass court period in 2005 because I knew I had to get fitter and stronger. You know, I made some changes after that.
But, yeah, I mean, obviously I'm a way, way better player than I was back then.

Q. Are you physically at your peak now, or is there going to be a bigger, faster, stronger Murray?
ANDY MURRAY: I think I can still get stronger. I think when I'm -- yeah, a year-and-a-half's time I think is when I'll be close to my peak, and, you know, peaks don't normally last that long, so, you know, I hope that I can, you know, make the best use of it.
But I'm playing very well just now. I feel physically strong, and I'll work on my fitness the next four or five days going into Wimbledon. Hopefully that will make a difference here.

Q. Will you celebrate this win with the team tonight, or is it just a case of going home and having a quiet night?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, we were just talking about it just now. I'll go chat with them. I haven't had a long time to discuss it. Everyone's got different directions to go and friends and family to see. Yeah, I'm sure we'll do something.

Q. Do you think you're playing well enough to win Wimbledon?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I mean, I don't think -- I don't think it's impossible, and I go into every tournament with that sort of mentality that, you know, I can win the event and, you know, for me, if I make the, you know, quarterfinals, semifinals of a Grand Slam, I don't view it as being, you know, a terrible tournament.
But I go on with the mentality that I'm going to win it, and, you know, I'll have to play -- it will have to be my best tennis ever to do it. I mean, so it's so difficult to do. That's why no one in Britain's done it for such a long time, because it is that difficult.
I think that, you know, a lot of people don't understand how tough it is. And especially right now with the guys that are in front of me in the rankings, and even the ones that are just behind me, there are some great players out there. In my opinion, they're the two best ever. I think they'll have the most Grand Slam titles between them.
They've competed in so many and won so many of the big tournaments the last few years. So I'm going to have to beat them if I want to do that.
That's not an easy thing to do. And even if I'm playing great, I can still lose that match, so yeah, like you say, a lot of variables.

Q. Would you say that from this time last year to where you are now that probably your serve is arguably the most improved shot in your game?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. Well, because I'm stronger, I kind of serve -- I kind of serve more like a man now. I think when, you know, like last couple of years, I could serve, you know, big, big serves, but, you know, I could also miss serves by two, three meters. And the consistency wasn't there, because I wasn't strong enough to keep it up for long periods of matches.
But now, because of the physical difference, you know, I can serve well for, you know, three, four hours and that makes a huge difference. Going into matches, you don't have to play so many long rallies and tire you out as much.
This week, normally I'm involved with a lot of long rallies, but this week there was hardly any because I got so many free points from my first serve.

Q. Do you think it matters that Nadal and Federer haven't played much this week?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. I can only, you know, talk for myself. For me, it's been a good week for the confidence end to play matches on this surface, and, you know, it's been very good preparation. But, you know, for them, I would be very confident if I just won the French Open like Federer and had to skip a couple of weeks, as well.
For Nadal, he is someone who likes to normally play a lot of matches and get used to surfaces and courts. Maybe for him that will make a difference, but you never know until you step out on the court. He might have been practicing for the last ten days or so.

Q. How do you think Roger and Rafa will view your victory here today? Do you think they'll be more worried about you than before?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. I mean, I know Novak Djokovic is in the final of Halle, as well. No, I mean, I think if you asked them, you know, before this week, you know, that behind those two we would be, you know, the two main contenders, you know, I don't know if, in their minds, that will make a huge difference, because I've never won a Slam before and Novak has only won one. I don't know. You'd have to ask them.

End of FastScripts

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